Tochigi cops: Family left skeletal remains in living room for 1 year

TOCHIGI (TR) – Tochigi Prefectural Police have arrested a woman and her two children for leaving what are believed to be the skeletal remains of her 60-year-old husband inside their home in Mooka City, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Jan. 12).

Police arrested Sumi Murayama, a 58-year-old nurse, her son Haruki, 27, and daughter Megumi, 30, for abandoning the body under a futon in the living room of the home, which is located in the Kumakuracho area.

All three suspects have been charged with abandoning a corpse. Sumi and Haruki have admitted to the allegations, with the latter expressing feelings of guilt. Megumi, meanwhile, denies the charges, telling police that she thought their father had been hospitalized.

On January 10, the older brother of Susumu Maruyama, Sumi’s husband, visited the home. He told Sumi that he had not seen his brother since December of 2014. “He died last year,” she told him. “He’s in the living room.”

Susumu had been battling diabetes. According to Sumi, he entered a weakened state in January of last year. “Starting around February or March, he began to give off an offensive smell,” Sumi is quoted by police.